Gambling Commission’s Tim Miller says FRAs exposed a “disconnect” with industry as pilot flagged players in arrears

Gambling Commission executive director Tim Miller said the regulator’s financial risk assessment (FRA) pilot identified a cohort of players in arrears that operators’ current processes were not catching. The point of the exercise, he said, is to focus on higher-spending customers where there is evidence of financial distress — which is exactly why the sector has spent so much time arguing about what the policy is actually for.

1. Speaking at iGB Live on Wednesday, Miller said the FRA pilot had flagged players “in arrears” who were not being picked up by operators’ existing controls. “We want to focus on those,” he said. He also said there was a “disconnect” between the regulator and the industry over FRAs, after significant pushback from the sector.
2. FRAs were first proposed in the Gambling Act review white paper. The Gambling Commission launched a pilot in August 2024. A number of tier one operators took part, with the first light-touch check triggered when a player’s net monthly deposit reached £500. A second phase from February 2025 lowered the net deposit threshold to £150 or above.
3. In May 2025, the Gambling Commission said 97% of checks in the second half of the pilot were considered “frictionless”. Even so, the Commission delayed its decision on full implementation in May after targeted criticism of the policy. Miller said on Wednesday that, in his view, a lot of people had forgotten the purpose of FRAs: to focus on higher-spending customers where there is evidence of financial distress.
4. Miller said reference-agency data had given the regulator a clearer view of financial distress “without impeding the customer journey.” He added that, if implemented properly, FRAs should do the opposite of what opponents fear. On timing, he said he did not yet have an answer on when FRAs would be implemented, noting that the regulator had been criticised both for moving too fast and for taking too long.
5. On the illegal market, Miller criticised tech giants for not acting quickly enough to restrict black-market sites and their marketing. He also said affiliates and B2B suppliers were a “big part of the problem,” and again called on operators to carry out due diligence on supplier and affiliate partners to ensure they have no black-market links. He said some operators were “pioneering”, but did not finish that point before the source cut off.

Miller also said more information would be made available in September, and that he remained committed to finishing a number of policy changes before leaving the Gambling Commission. He said regulatory peers around the world were watching the FCA debate closely, which is usually code for “nobody wants to be first unless the numbers and the politics both work”.